Depending on the mood you’re in, The Man With Two Brains will either be the dumbest movie you ever saw or you’ll be laughing so much that you’ll need to rewind some scenes a few times just to take them in and make sure your eyes were functioning properly. Of course, the truth is the film actually slides between both ends of that particular scale and pretty much doesn’t care whether you get every joke it throws at you.
That was pretty much the template for most of Steve Martin’s comedies back in the day before he settled into those more mundane and family friendly big box office reliable flicks that make some of his older fans cringe because they can see he’s just collecting a better paycheck rather than doing the comedy (or music, as the man can play a mean banjo!) he probably wants to. Continue reading →
And why would you need Velcro gloves, you ask? Well, I’m gathering you’ve never played Spelunker, the legendary game with “the weakest action hero in the history of video games” (and boy, is that ever true!). Since 1983, that fragile little miner guy has been a staple of gaming history who’s stood the test of time, inspiring many other games including Derek Yu’s rather spiffy homage Spelunky and probably helping to break a few too many controllers thrown at a wide range of televisions.
Anyway, after popping up in an HD version on the PlayStation Network, the original classic game is now (and finally) available for $4.99 on the Wii U and 3DS through Nintendo’s eShop (thank you, Tozai Games!), meaning you can see what all the fuss is about if you happen to own one of those consoles. The game certainly demands some fast reflexes as you scoot to nab treasure, avoiding death from above, below, left and right from bats, snakes, hot steam, electricity and falling from too-high spots (among other things). Not to mention that pesky ghost that pops up when you least expect it to get your heart racing.
Now, why would anyone subject themselves to such torture you ask? Well, because it’s actually a ton of FUN, folks. That and it’s hard not to root for that little guy with no particular talents who can die at the drop of a hat forging onward into certain doom to accomplish his goal. I’d say that describes the human condition in a way. Or perhaps I’m thinking too much (again). Hey, everyone needs a hobby right? Mine is stretching my poor brain into assorted shapes. And playing the occasional game that makes me want to jump up and down on a controller (which I won’t be doing as that Wii U GamePad is pretty expensive)…
Soooo… I just now decided to poke around and peek at some early reviews and impressions and… *ding!* it looks as if it’s up…. annnnnnd… it’s good! Actually, that Redband trailer had me convinced a while ago (although I wasn’t going to do a silly reaction video at all) – particularly the part with the knife and tongue (eek!). Anyway, go see this one if you want to jump all around the theater holding the arm of the person next to you as a handy club. They’ll miss that arm only for the few seconds it takes them to bleed out, but at least you have a weapon now.
OF COURSE… the problem with all this over-hype is will the actual film scare anyone who hasn’t been all over the internet gobbling up every trailer, screen capture, feature, cast interview and so forth and so on? The original film and its more comedy-focused sequel were memorable to me because they came out of nowhere as “Midnight” movies without a ton of fanfare. I still recall seeing the trailer and initially being freaked out by it back in the day and I think there was even a brief commercial for the original film popping up very late at night that was pretty effective in a “Oh, I really don’t want to see that, but…” manner. I ended up not being that scared at all by the original film because of what I considered too much hype back in the day, so this new version didn’t get my attention until I noted how it took a more serious angle to things, which works well from what I’ve seen.
Now, every big genre film gets SO much attention that it’s hard to be surprised because you’ve seen half the film on TV or the internet or it’s one of those smaller flicks that’s too weird to show much of and eventually turns out to be less frightening and more disgusting (Yeah, YOU, Human Centipede 2). Eh, as always… we shall see. Except you with the missing arms out there. You’re all dead (but you just might come back for the inevitable sequel)…
Depending on the mood you’re in, The Man With Two Brains will either be the dumbest movie you ever saw or you’ll be laughing so much that you’ll need to rewind some scenes a few times just to take them in and make sure your eyes were functioning properly. Of course, the truth is the film actually slides between both ends of that particular scale and pretty much doesn’t care whether you get every joke it throws at you.
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